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Roimata Mangakāhia
Roimata is the main narrator for season 2 of Within The Wires. She narrates a series of museum audio guides which feature the work of fellow artist and lover Claudia Atieno. "The tide comes in and it goes out. You're either there when you need to be or you're not; time is impervious to critique." '-- Roimata in ''Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (1978)''' Biography Early Life Roimata was born in a small seaside town in Aotearoa.Season 1, Cassette #6: for Oleta She was born at the very end of the Great ReckoningSeason 2, Cassette #10: Karikari Contemporary Gallery (1986) and was among the first generation of children to have their memories erased at 10 years old.Season 2, Cassette #1: Tate Modern (1971) She was drawing and making art from a young age, with some of her earliest shown work estimated to be from when she was 16 years old. Although she was not the most well known artist, she was well acquainted with many other artists. She was close to Vanessa Nguyen, and stood by her despite her career being ruined by a false plagiarism allegation.Season 2, Cassette #7: Sree Chitra Art Gallery (1979) When she was in her 20s, Roimata went traveling around the world, as art had been beginning to flourish for the first time since the Great Reckoning. Around 1964, Roimata visited Providence in North America and traveled either to or from London via cargo ship. There were no records of her transit. Meeting Claudia In 1969, Roimata opened the Karikari Comtemporary in Aotearoa. She was the only staff member at the time of the premiere, which featured several works of Claudia Atieno's on loan from the former collection of the late Aimee Layeni. She was invited to London to work on an exhibit on Atieno for the Tate Modern.Season 2, Cassette #0: Karikari Contemporary (1969) She brought several of her own pieces of work to London with her, hoping to get a showing at a gallery. She moved in to an apartment near Plymouth. In 1970, she began working on her exhibit for the Tate Modern art galley on Claudia Atieno's work for the Remembrance Wing. As part of this project, Roimata interviewed Atieno and then narrated the audio guide for the museum.Season 2, Cassette #4: Bardo Museum (1975) Although this is referred to as their first meeting, Roimata also apparently talked with her in 1969 about her work "Lamp" which was her favourite.Season 2, Cassette #8: Ohara Museum of Art (1980) Roimata had idolised Atieno for a long time and was nervous about meeting her, and in a rush to make a good impression, aggravated Atieno into smashing a plate. The two met again on better terms, several times, and got to know each other well. Eventually, Claudia invited Roimata to finish the interview at her home. The house was situated on a small island just off the coast of Cornwall, and Roimata stayed there for "a while". In the audio guide, which was released in 1971, she expressed a feeling of potential belonging, and a desire to go back. Claudia's newest work as of the 1971 Tate Modern guide was "Woman in Bath" which depicted Roimata bathing in the Cornwall house. Claudia also visited Roimata in her Plymouth apartment for the last time in 1970, at which point she found a chest full of Roimata's old artworks and stole the original "Kea with Rope" and several other sketches. Roimata passed time at the Cornwall house by going diving off the cliffs, sketching the waves, reading, and creating needlepoint art.Season 2, Cassette #5: Van Gogh Museum (1977) Claudia's Disappearance She stayed with Claudia until 1972, although she did not formally move out of her own small apartment in Plymouth. At some point during her stay there, one of Claudia's other lovers, Pavel Zubov, was exposed as a cheater and kicked out. It seemed that Roimata had encouraged this action, or at the very least supported it. Later, Pavel returned to the house, immediately before Claudia went missing in October of 1972. However, Roimata did not seem to especially suspect his involvement, nor had she found his presence odd at the time.Season 2, Cassette #2: Ulster Museum (1973) Roimata denied that Claudia was missing for years after the last time she saw her. For the remainder of 1972 and 73, she was sure that Claudia would be returning and had simply taken a break from her life. By 1974, she was fumbling on her tenses but still held out hope that she would be coming back, and maintained that until 1975. In 1977 she said she feared the worst, and in 1978, Claudia's body was found. Roimata said that although she had become accustomed to Claudia's absence, she really hadn't thought that she would turn up dead.Season 2, Cassette #6: Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (1978) Throughout these years, the process of grief can be seen. First there is her denial of anything amiss, and then her anger at Atieno begins to manifest. Roimata calls her out on her shortcomings and seems to resent her at times, although she continues to insist her love and admiration. She starts to bargain with the concept of her return by suggesting that even if she herself never reappears, she expects they will continue to discover "hidden" works via Zubov. Eventually, she seems to give up hope entirely, before acceptance is forced onto her when her body is found. In 1978, Roimata was interviewed by Hester, who was studying art at the time, and admired Roimata greatly. To Hester she had seemed closed off, especially where Claudia was concerned. When we hear from Roimata again in 1979, she is for the first time not narrating an audio guide for just Atieno's work, but also her own and Vanessa Nguyen's. Her own piece was a self-portrait, painted in her bedroom at the Cornwall house. Out of the window, she painted a figure standing on the cliffs, waiting to jump. In the 1980 audio guide of the Ohara Museum, Roimata states that Claudia died from impact after falling off the cliffs in Cornwall. Parts of her hair and bone washed up on St. Agnes Island in 1978, and in 1980 part of her torso and some teeth were discovered. This audio guide was likely among the two she recorded that were not distributed, along with the one for the Montreal Museum. In 1981, Roimata talked about, supposedly, the last time she had seen Claudia in 1972. The story was, again, different from the other times she had referred to it. She mentioned that at the time she left for Amsterdam, Claudia had been at the cliffs on the island. It was low tide, and after their goodbyes before she left, Claudia had said "I'm going to take the plunge." Roimata did not inform her that the tide was too low to safely jump from the cliffs, but in 1981 could not recall why or anything about her thoughts in that moment. She maintained that she did not know how Claudia died, seemingly in an effort to avoid jumping to conclusions.Season 2, Cassette #9: Metropolitan Muesum of Art (1981) Later Life In 1980, Roimata moved back to the town she was born in, and her work was exhibitioned there. By 1982, she had started painting again, although it is unclear when exactly she stopped. She painted shrubs such as the horopito on the mountains near her home - she painted dozens of these pieces, and scarcely worked on anything else. She died at some point before 1985, in the garden. She was not found for some time, as she was reclusive during these years. The paintings in her house were retrieved by Hester, who convinced a neighbour to let her in. Hester later reopened the Karikari Contemporary Gallery and showed Roimata's work there. On Hester's last visit to Roimata's house, she attempted to feed the cat, but it drew blood and ran away. Additional info * The name "Roimata" means "teardrop" in Māori * "Mountain Horopito #4" is displayed above the mantelpiece in Hester and Oleta's cottage by the seaSeason 1, Cassette #10: Horopito * Many of the pieces that Hester chooses to show in the exhibition at the Karikari Contemporary Gallery are similar to or direct copies of works of Claudia's, which is ironic considering the way Roimata called attention to Atieno's plagiarism in previous audio guides * Bonus information from the official transcript (which may or may not be considered canon) reveals that in the early 70s, Roimata work was exhibited at the Dallas Museum of Art in an exhibit called "Eyes in Palms". She was reviewed in the New Manhattan Times and Al-Ahram: ** "mysterious, yet straightforward... Her work offers complicated knots to untangle for those who wish to find order, but gorgeously structured colors and textures for those who want to appreciate fine art on its surface." ** "a master of landscapes."Season 2, Cassette #2: Ulster Museum (1973)/Transcript References | ||}} Category:Main Characters Category:Cornwall House Frequent Category:Artists Category:Narrators